Ohio State men's basketball | Checking in on former Buckeyes

Monday

Dec 18, 2017 at 9:55 AMDec 18, 2017 at 10:19 AM

Adam Jardy The Columbus Dispatch @AdamJardy

Ohio State’s ill-fated 2015 recruiting class has come and gone, scattered across the country in a wave of transfers. In addition, a pair of last season’s primary contributors are now plying their talents in the NBA’s G-League.

Here’s how the former Buckeyes are faring at their newest locales. Players are arranged from least-recent departure to most recent. JaQuan Lyle (New Mexico) and David Bell (Jacksonville) are both sitting out this season.

Austin Grandstaff – DePaul

Ten games into his freshman season with the Buckeyes, Grandstaff decided it wasn’t a good fit and quit the program without a new destination in mind. He eventually wound up at Oklahoma, but didn’t stick there, either, and is now a sophomore guard with the Blue Devils.

After sitting out last season, Grandstaff is now 11 games into his DePaul career but not seeing much playing time. A healthy unused substitute in four games this season, Grandstaff’s only points have come in a win against Alabama A&M, when he scored 11 in a season-high 20 minutes. Otherwise, he’s played 40 minutes in the other six games and missed all eight of his field-goal attempts – all three-pointers.

It all averages out to 1.6 points in 8.6 minutes per game and a 21.1 percent field-goal percentage. By way of comparison, Grandstaff played 115 minutes in his 10 Ohio State games, averaging 4.4 points and shooting 39.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three in 11.5 minutes per game.

Daniel Giddens – Alabama

Giddens was the first of three players to have their departures publicly announced following his freshman season at Ohio State, where he averaged 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game while splitting time with Trevor Thompson.

His numbers look similar with the Crimson Tide. The center has started seven of their first 10 games and is averaging 4.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game. His best game came in a Dec. 6 win against Rhode Island when he had a season-high 12 points and a season-high six rebounds in a 68-64 win.

Mickey Mitchell – Arizona State

The Sun Devils are among the nation’s hottest teams, and Mitchell just recently joined the active roster. Like Grandstaff, he left Ohio State and transferred elsewhere – this time UC Santa Barbara – before ultimately ending up at his current school.

Mitchell only recently became eligible to participate in game action, like his season at Ohio State, but he did score eight points and pull down 13 rebounds in Sunday’s 76-64 win against Vanderbilt. It was only his second game, and the forward played 24 minutes after playing eight in his debut a week earlier in an upset win against Kansas.

With the Aggies, Harris is contributing at a high level. He’s started 10 of their 11 games and is third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game with a season-high of 18 in a Nov. 30 win against UTEP. He scored 16 in Saturday’s win at Illinois including the game-winning three-point play.

The diminutive guard leads the team in assists per game at 3.3 and has more than twice as many assists (33) as turnovers (16). He’s shooting 35.7 percent from three after making 32.7 percent of his tries for the Buckeyes, and he’s averaging 26.7 minutes per game.

With Ohio State, Harris averaged 2.8 points and 1.7 assists in 13.7 minutes per game while serving as Lyle’s backup.

Marc Loving – Delaware 87ers

After exhausting his eligibility following last season, Loving is playing in the NBA’s developmental league, which this season has been rebranded as the G League.

Loving has appeared in seven of the 87ers’ 16 games and is averaging 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 36.7 percent from the floor and 38.9 percent from three in 11.1 minutes per appearance. His numbers are buoyed by a big night Dec. 6 against Wisconsin, where he scored 21 points and was 5 of 7 from three.

Loving has gone scoreless in four of his seven appearances.

Trevor Thompson – Santa Cruz Warriors

After his redshirt junior season, Thompson opted to declare for the NBA Draft but went undrafted and eventually signed with Golden State’s G-League team.

He’s played in 12 of the Warriors’ 19 games and is averaging 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per appearance. He scored a season-high 13 points in a Nov. 11 win against the Agua Caliente Clippers and had a season-high five rebounds in a Nov. 17 win against the Long Island Nets.

During his last season at Ohio State, Thompson averaged 10.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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